Our thoughts with those of our Sisters in Nashville on this great day of both the Solemnity of Saint Cecilia and Thanksgiving Day. We were delighted that on this day so precious to us we were able to attend Mass at Bishop Anthony Fisher’s parish of Our Lady Star of the Sea in Watson’s Bay. Although his parishioners were celebrating a key anniversary, he graciously preached on both Saint Cecilia and the history of the parish’s establishment of Vaughan Village. Bishop Fisher was thoughtful enough to forward us his notes, so we are happy to share with you an excerpt from our Saint Cecilia Day homily:

Cecilia was a Christian from a posh family who like so many women down the centuries converted her pagan fiancé – and his brother. The two men who became leaders of the ancient Christian equivalent of the St Vincent de Paul Society, helping the poor with food and money and burying the dead. At her wedding reception Cecilia sat joyfully singing the Psalms to herself and that got her a permanent job as Patron Saint of Christian musicians. But when the Roman prefect got wind of all this Christian happiness and holiness he had her arrested. Cecilia proceeded to convert the guards as well. Eventually, though, many of the Christians were hunted down and massacred. Before she died Cecilia made a glorious profession of faith and various dispositions to the poor as she lay dying – for three days – from decapitation.

Such operatic deaths are, of course, largely the product of pious retelling. Many more fables grew up about her over the years. Soon her tomb became a place of pilgrimage. Her name was included in the Roman Canon (the First Eucharistic Prayer). Churches were erected in her honour and even religious orders. One example was in Nashville, Tennessee where the Dominican bishop drew some Dominican sisters to establish “an academy for the higher education of girls and young ladies” with an emphasis on music and fine arts. They were called the Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia and so today is their feast day. The four foundresses included Sr. Philomena McDonough, a bright young orphan with uncommon skill on harp and piano, who was adopted by the Sisters. From an early age she begged to be allowed to join the order and to wear the habit of St Dominic. Her habited Sisters went on to establish schools and missions, surviving civil war, epidemics, bankruptcy and Vatican II!

Those first four sisters could never have imagined that three of their spiritual daughters – whom we welcome here with us for Mass today – would end up at the antipodes with the extraordinary mission of helping prepare us and the world for World Youth Day! But the life of those Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia is very much patterned after the teachings of St Paul in our First Reading today (Colossians 3:12-17): we should live as saints, clothed in the habit of love and seeking to forgive and forbear. We should live in compassion, kindness and humility, gentleness, patience and gratitude. We should teach and sing, as Paul describes our Christian vocation, and as these sisters live it.

Even though Thanksgiving Day is a distinctly American holiday, the evening brought a celebration that carried us for a time to the “land of the free and the home of the brave.” Susan Miller, an American from the Liturgy Office of the Archdiocese of Sydney, invited us to her home the very moment she heard our accents on the elevator the first time. She hosts the unofficial Sydney Thanksgiving for Americans abroad. When we arrived at Susan’s home, the Stars and Stripes were flying above the door. The dinner was a true Thanksgiving feast after the wonderful meal, we joined in a spirited sing-along, which not only included a wide repertoire of American patriotic classics, but also featured Father Tim Deeter and Sr. Anna singing Cantantibus Organis. The only missing element was about 225 Sisters we love, but we knew they were one with us in prayers of gratitude and canticles of praise.